


Sing Above the Ground

by LamiaCalls



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Relationship, Triwizard Tournament
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2020-12-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 18:41:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27980973
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LamiaCalls/pseuds/LamiaCalls
Summary: Cho goes for a late night dip in the prefects' bathroom, but finds she's not the only one with that idea.
Relationships: Cho Chang/Cedric Diggory
Comments: 6
Kudos: 24
Collections: Mistletoe Exchange 2020





	Sing Above the Ground

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mistrali](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mistrali/gifts).



Cho was exhausted. It had been a long day of classes, plus she’d had to break up a fight that had started between a Drumstrang student and a grumpy Gryffindor in the evening. They had gotten nasty over a dirty look, apparently, and it had taken almost a full hour to calm either of them down enough to apologise, and even then it was a surly sorry to be sure. It didn’t help that she usually found being at Hogwarts relaxing — wandering the halls, going up to the owlery to feed the owls and think deep thoughts amongst their chirping — but all these additional students were just making it feel crowded. On a good day, it was exciting to see so many faces, and she’d made friends already with a few of the Beauxbatons students. But when she wasn’t in the mood, like today, it was oppressive and claustrophobic.

So she waited until everyone had gone to sleep, and slipped out of the Ravenclaw Common Room. At night, at least, the halls were just the same as always. Subdued, with only the faint chattering of ghosts and portraits to remind her she wasn’t alone. She could hear Peeves whooping somewhere, too — must’ve played a prank on some unsuspecting visitor caught out of their rooms.

The prefect’s bathroom was always a calming place to be, especially when she had it to herself. She was wearing her dressing gown over her swimming costume — even at night, she never risked going nude.

That, as it turned out, was for the best. Because when she whispered “ _pine fresh_ ” and the door opened for her, she was startled by the splashing of a large man in the bath.

“Oh!” she gasped. “Sorry, I thought it’d be empty, this time of night.”

Cedric Diggory turned to her, wet hair flopping over his eyes. He was grinning that easy smile he often wore.

“That’s alright, I’m decent.”

She took a tentative step in.

“I can come back later.”

He shook his head, waved his hand.

“It’s fine, it’s so late already.”

He sounded distracted. Instead of listening to her head (which told her to go back to bed and try again for some quiet bathing time tomorrow), she took another step towards the bathtub.

The huge bath took up most of the room with an enormous circle of taps on one end that piped in water of many different colours, that somehow all mixed to make the bath itself clear beneath the embarrassment of bubbles. One could fit every prefect in Hogwarts into the bath at once, she reckoned, though she had never actually seen more than one or two at a time in there.

Surrounding the bath were stone columns and stained glass windows, which refracted the pale moonlight so the room shone in purples and blues and yellows. There were also candles, enchanted to float above the bathtub, which only added to the dappled water effect. It was one of her favourite spots in all of Hogwarts.

“What are you doing?” she asked. He seemed to be fiddling with something on the far edge of the bath, but the bubbles were obscuring whatever it was.

“Take a look,” he said, not turning to her.

She weighed her options, but decided to slip out of her dressing gown, and into the bath. The water was the perfect temperature, as it was enchanted to be. She waded over to him.

She tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach. He was cute, and she had always thought so. But being this close to him while semi-dressed was definitely not helping the nerves she got by being around him. She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate.

On the edge of the bath sat a large golden egg — the same one, she knew, that he had won in the Triwizard Tournament’s first task.

“What’re you trying to do?”

He shrugged, and looked at her.

“When I open it, it makes this horrid noise—“

He flicked a latch, and out came a devastating screech. Cho clamped her hands over her head.

“Merlin!” she said, at the same moment he reclasped the egg, making her shout far too loud. “Is it meant to do that?”

“It’s a puzzle,” Cedric said, pursing his lips. “Mad Eye told me to bring it in here, said it’d help me think.”

“Professor Moody said that?” Cho asked.

“Yeah,” Cedric said. “I think he was tired of hearing it screech, honestly.”

He fiddled with the clasp again, but he did not reopen it. Cho sighed with relief — she didn’t think her ears would be able to take it.

Cedric started to say, “What are you doing here—“

But she gasped as he turned to her. Now seeing the other side of his body, she could see the burn marks.

“Did the dragon do that to you?” she asked. Instinctively, without thinking, she stepped forward, reached up to hold his chin and move his head, so she could inspect it properly. Clearly, it had been tended to already; the marks were pink, but didn’t look open nor like they would even leave any scars on him once healed.

“Yeah,” he said, his voice now quiet. He was watching her. She blushed, and took a step backwards, but he grabbed a hold of her hand. “It’s okay, I don’t mind.”

Her cheeks only grew hotter, but she acquiesced and took his chin again. She got even closer this time, until she could hear his breath over the running of the water.

“It looks like it hurt.” It was a stupid thing to say, but her brain was struggling to focus on anything but how close she was to him.

“It did,” he said, that easy smile reappearing. “I could use a hand actually. I washed all the salve Pomfrey put on. Wasn’t thinking. Will you help me reapply?”

She nodded, not trusting herself to say anything.

They stood in tense silence, watching each other. Her hand had fallen away, and he looked like he might be leaning into kiss her, except—

As if not thinking directly about it had allowed her brain to ruminate on the problem, Cho suddenly had an idea, one that couldn’t wait for him kissing her (if that was, indeed, what he was even going to do).

“Have you tried listening to it under the water?”

Cedric blinked in surprise. He shook his head — though it looked more like he was trying to clear his thoughts than to disagree.

“I hadn’t, but…that might actually work.” Cedric slapped his forehead. “Ah, _that_ might be why Moody told me to come up here.”

He took the egg in hand, and pushed it under the water.

“Will you listen with me?” he asked. He seemed almost shy; she’d never seen him like that before.

“Of course.”

They dipped under the water together. The water was green-hued but it didn’t hurt their eyes. He took a few seconds to undo the clasp — it was clearly a more difficult task under the water. But then it was open, and instead of screeching, a beautiful music poured out, accompanying the natural music of the water.

_Come seek us where our voices sound,_

_We cannot sing above the ground,_

_And while you're searching ponder this;_

_We've taken what you'll sorely miss,_

_An hour long you'll have to look,_

_And to recover what we took,_

_But past an hour, the prospect's black,_

_Too late, it's gone, it won't come back._

Cho surfaced first, spluttering, Cedric coming up shortly after. It had been a longer song than she expected, and while she was Quidditch-fit, it still left her panting.

“Wow,” he said. He was grinning now, smoothing his hair back from his forehead.

“Do you know what it means?” Cho asked. She was none the wiser, but she was sure if he needed the help, she would be able to work it out.

“I have some ideas,” he said. He laughed. “I’ve been in here for an hour, trying to figure this out. Clearly, I should’ve consulted you all along.”

Cho blushed again. “It was nothing, really. A good guess.”

“I’m not so sure about that. Those Ravenclaw smarts, I would say.”

He was looking at her, eyes shining in the moon- and candlelight. She wanted to squirm under his gaze, as much as she enjoyed it.

“Here, it’s getting late. We should probably go to bed,” she said softly. She didn’t really want to leave, but her fingers were starting to prune.

“As long as you follow through on your promise with the salve first,” he said, and winked.

They got out and towelled off, and Cho returned to the cosy warmth of her dressing gown. She came to sit beside Cedric, who still had his legs in the bath. She squeezed a good dollop of salve out — it was bright orange and smelled funny, but she didn’t mind in this instance.

“Is that alright?” she said softly, as she ran her fingers over his cheekbone.

“It’s nice,” he said, closing his eyes.

She worked slowly, careful not to press too hard to hurt him or accidentally scratch him, and making sure to cover every inch of burn — from cheekbone to collarbone. She could hear his breath quicken as she stroked his neck, and hers was shallower than usual too.

When she finished, she washed her hands off in the bath.

“We really should get back,” she said again. “If Filch catches us…”

“You’re right,” he said. He swung up, grabbing at his own robe. “Thank you. I swear, I would have been here all night — already kind of had been — if it weren’t for you.”

“My pleasure, really,” she said shyly. Ugh. She didn’t know why she became such a blushing girl around him.

They stood facing each other again, and she wondered again if he might kiss her. He had many other suitors — of course he did. He was gorgeous, and a Triwizard champion at that. But she was hopeful, anyway.

After a moment, he chuckled and looked away. Could it be that he was just as nervous about this as she was?

“Hey, Cho,” Cedric said. His voice had an air of casualness that she suspected was affected. “I was wondering… Would you like to go to the Yule Ball with me, perhaps? If you don’t already have a date, I mean.”

Her face brightened, and though she tried not to, she knew she was grinning.

“I would love that.”

He smiled back, wide and unabashed. It was so nice that he wasn’t the kind of guy to pretend he didn’t care.

“Great. Great. This has, so far, been a very successful evening. I guess I should call it quits before Peeves steals my underwear.”

Cho laughed, and all the tension she was feeling about it washed away. This would be a lot of fun.

They went their separate ways so they could return to their respective dorms, but Cho’s heart trilled with excitement until the moment she fell asleep.


End file.
